1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hinge assembly structure for opening and closing of a door in a storage facility keeping in store foods such as Kimchi which is the Korean traditional preserved vegetables, and more particularly, to a hinge assembly structure which rotates forward and backward to then perform a reciprocal rectilinear movement via an elastic restoring force and an elastic repulsive force of elastic members, and to thereby mitigate an opening and closing speed of a door to prevent a mechanical impact to be applied to a main body of the Kimchi storage facility during opening and closing of the door, and seek stable opening and closing of the door via a secure assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the case of general refrigerators which are used in homes and so on, internal temperatures in the refrigerators may severely vary during opening and closing doors. Accordingly, a period of time for preserving foods such as Kimchi should be short. Also, since an appropriate temperature of maintaining the proper ripening temperature of Kimchi is lower than those of general cold storage foods, it is difficult to keep Kimchi in general refrigerators for a long time. Accordingly, Kimchi is stored in a particular Kimchi storage facility called a Kimchi refrigerator.
A preserved vegetables storage facility which is so-called a Kimchi refrigerator includes a storage chamber storing Kimchi in the inner upper side of a main body, which is isolated from the external air through an isolation member, a mechanical chamber in the inner lower side thereof, having a compressor and a condenser in order to cool the storage chamber, and a door which is fixed with a hinge in the upper portion of the main body, in order to seal the storage chamber, and which is opened and closed up and down.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a conventional storage facility in which preserved vegetables such as one Korean traditional food called “Kimchi” are kept in store. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing a hinge coupling structure of the Kimchi storage facility shown in FIG. 1.
As shown in FIG. 1, the Kimchi storage facility includes a main body 1 forming an external case, two storage chambers 3 formed in the main body 1, a mechanical chamber having a cooling device under the storage chambers 3, and two doors 2 covering the storage chambers 3 in the upper portion of the main body 1.
Each door 2 is hinged on the upper portion of the rear surface of the Kimchi storage facility, so that it is opened upward and closed by its own gravitational weight.
As described above, the conventional door 2 is opened and closed by operation of the hinge. An example of a conventional hinge coupling structure is shown in FIG. 2 more specifically.
That is, as shown in FIG. 2, a main body hinge portion 20 which rotatably supports the door 2 is provided in the upper portion of the rear surface of the main body 1, and a door hinge portion 30 which is rotatably combined with the main body hinge portion 20 is provided in the rear portion of the door 2.
The main body hinge portion 20 includes a hinge bracket 21 of a predetermined length which is fixed to a top cover 15 and a hinge cover 25 which isolates the rear portion of the hinge bracket 21, in which the upper portion of the hinge bracket 21 is protruded toward the upper portion of the top cover 15.
A shaft coupling hole 28 for coupling a hinge shaft 40 is formed penetratively on both sides of the hinge bracket 21 in a hinge axial direction, and the hinge cover 25 is combined in the main body hinge portion 20 in order to isolate the rear portion of the hinge bracket 21.
The door hinge portion 30 includes a hinge receptacle 33 which is formed in the rear portion of the door 2 as a predetermined accommodation space for partially accommodating the upper portion of the main body hinge portion 20, and a shaft coupling portion 31 which is provided with a predetermined space in both sides of the hinge receptacle 33 in order to couple a hinge shaft 40.
The hinge receptacle 33 is separated from the shaft coupling portion 31 by both the side walls of the hinge receptacle 33. On either side wall of the hinge receptacle 33 is formed a rotational shaft hole 38 which communicates with the shaft coupling portion 31 in correspondence to the shaft coupling hole 28 of the hinge bracket 21. The hinge shaft 40 is made to pass through the rotational shaft holes 38, and is coupled with the shaft coupling hole 28, to then be fixed by a stop ring 32 to prevent a shaft axial direction from seceding.
However, since the hinge receptacle 33 accommodating the main body hinge portion 20 is formed in the rear portion of the door 2 with a predetermined accommodating space in such a conventional Kimchi storage facility having the above-described hinge coupling structure, the rear portion of the upper wall of the hinge receptacle 33 contacts the rear surface of the main body hinge portion 20, that is, the external surface of the hinge cover 25. In this case, the weight of the door 2 is transferred to the contact portion. Thus, if the door 2 is opened with an excessive force, the rear portion of the door 2 may be broken.
Also, since there is no operational function or separate mechanism which holds the door 2 so as to stop at a predetermined position during opening the door 2 in the hinge coupling structure having the conventional structure, the door 2 may have only to be in a completely closed position, or in a completely opened position where the door 2 is opened by 90° or so backwards.
Accordingly, if the door 2 is not held by the hand during opening and closing it, the door 2 is closed abruptly by the weight of the door 2, which may apply a mechanical impact on the whole Kimchi storage facility or cause a safety accident in the case that the finger or fingers of a user is put under the abruptly closing door 2 carelessly during opening and closing the door 2.